According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, the gendarmes were involved in the search for a missing person. The helicopter crashed in a wooded area outside Orléans in the Loiret department on Sunday afternoon.
Local authorities said in a press release that three gendarmes were on board when the accident occurred. One of them died while the pilot and a mechanic were taken to hospital in critical condition.
The cause of the accident has not yet been determined and an accident investigation is underway, according to the authorities.
